Marian Trump Barry, the older sister of former President Donald Trump, died on Monday at the age of 86, the New York City Police Department confirmed to Fox News.
Barry was a former federal appeals judge who retired in April 2019, according to the New York Times.
In 2016, Trump described his sister as a “highly respected judge” while noting that they disagreed on public policy issues.
Four years later, Trump dismissed the released secret audio recordings of Barry, saying he had “no principles” and was “cruel.”
FILE – Donald Trump, Maryann Trump and Robert Trump are seen during the opening of Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino in April 1990 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Trump rejects secret audio recording of his sister who calls him “cruel”: “Who cares?”
“Every day there’s something else, who cares?” Trump said in a statement at the time, according to the Washington Post:
The Washington Post story about the recordings appeared one day after the White House hosted a private memorial service for Robert Trump, the president’s younger brother, who died on August 15, 2020, at the age of 71.
Barry’s recordings were made by Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, who published a scathing book about the president and his family.
“Donald is cruel,” Barry told her niece in the secretly recorded conversation in 2018.
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Donald Trump Jr., Maryann Trump Barry, and Trump Jr.’s ex-wife Vanessa Kay Haydon Trump pose for a photo during Easter Sunday events at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, in April 2006. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)
“All he wants to do is appeal to his base. He has no principles. Nothing. Nothing. And his base, I mean, my God, if you’re a religious person, you want to help people. Don’t do this,” she said. This came in the recording published by the newspaper, in reference to the so-called zero-tolerance policy followed by the Trump administration on the border between the United States and Mexico, which led to the separation of children from their parents amid immigration court hearings. This policy was later cancelled.
During her legal career, Barry served as a federal prosecutor before then-President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the federal court in New Jersey in 1983, the New York Times reported.
The newspaper added that in 1999, former President Bill Clinton appointed her to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Donald Trump is photographed with his sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, in June 2008. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)
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Shortly after Trump was sworn in as president in 2017, Barry informed the court that she would stop hearing the cases, according to the New York Times.
Fox News’ Bree Stimson contributed to this report.